Media have a responsibility to promote non-violence

On May 5 2005 the Daily Sun, a South African newspaper reported on a case of femicide in which Steve Nkone shot dead his ex-wife, Nthabiseng Nkone, a pre-school teacher in Soweto. Steve Nkone called the Daily Sun to confess to the killing, hence the story. He later committed suicide after shooting and injuring a Daily Sun reporter.

 

While this case was shocking it was not unusual. As South Africans we have grown used to hearing horrific stories about violence against women; from domestic violence to rape and murder. The majority of cases of violence against women are committed by men, and very often the perpetrators are known to the women. Many of us may be numb to the stories of this violence. In a recent case of neighbourhood domestic violence, I had to urge a very reluctant policeman to take a statement from the woman who was traumatised and injured on the head, and had been screaming for help. His first response had been “it’s better to let these things sort themselves out.”

 

But having read the Daily Sun, I wonder whether the situation isn’t worse than numbness and indifference.  If the views expressed in the Daily Sun on this issue are anything to go by, it is possible that some people in our society believe that this kind of violence is actually acceptable. Placed next to the main article on the 5 May front page was a comment, “the Daily Sun says” which I quote in full: (emphasis directly from the text):

 

 

Firstly, we must see this as an editorial, placed as it was on the front page which attempts to explain Mr Nkone killed his wife. That South African men are having trouble adjusting to the “fruits of the revolution” is clear. That apartheid was humiliating and insulting for black men is indisputable – but of course it was also so for black women!

 

However, there are stronger messages about this article that are far more disturbing. One of these is that the problems that men are having can be attributed to the fact that women are claiming equality in society, and further that men are being disadvantaged in favour of women. Women have taken over where the Boers left off. Men are feeling insulted and humiliated!

 

Most disturbing, is that in making middle-aged men the victims in this situation, the editorial implies firstly that Steve Nkone is a victim of social circumstances that are beyond his control, and secondly that Nthabiseng Nkone’s death was her own fault. The effect of this editorial in placing the perpetrator as a victim is to take away his agency, and in effect to condone murder. The focus becomes what did she do to cause him to kill her?

 

When I shared this editorial with some of my colleagues I had a few shocked responses, but mostly I received shrugs. One of my female colleagues said, “Well, the wimp went and killed himself anyway.” OK, so that makes it alright then!

 

During a recent radio debate on the growth of tabloid newspapers in South Africa a number of callers raised concerns about both xenophobic and sexist positions taken by the Daily Sun newspaper. The response of the publisher to these claims was that newspapers merely reflect or mirror the societies they write about, and that in expressing these views they are bringing out the truth of what people think. Du Plessis has claimed to “stand for the guy in the blue overall.” The Daily Sun also claims the title, the “People’s Paper.”

 

What about what the victim and her children think? What about what all the women in blue overalls? Do they share those views? And surely the guys in the blue overalls who solve their problems through violence are in the minority? How can a newspaper claim to represent the views of such a diverse society, and does it not have some responsibility to promoting non-violence? Can newspapers really claim to reflect the values of society in their reporting?

 

Life is cheap for women in South Africa. We have some of the highest rates of all rape, femicide and child abuse in the world. Surely we should all be outraged by this?

 

Thandi Lewin is the Programme Manager for the Carnegie-South Africa Scholarship Programme. This article is part of a special series of commentaries on the Sixteen Days of Activism Campaign produced through the Gender Links Opinion and Commentary Service that provides fresh views on everyday news.